Former NFL coach Tony Dungy recently noted that Colin Kaepernick is now just as toxic to the NFL as dog abuser Michael Vick.

Still finding himself without a team after his yearlong anti-American protests, Kaepernick is so far sitting out the upcoming 2017 season. But, Dungy sees a parallel between Kaepernick and the downfall of Michael Vick, whose conviction for illegal dog fighting made him too toxic for any team to hire. Dungy also likened Kaepernick’s troubles finding a new team with the troubles Joe Mixon had after a video showing him punching a woman in the face went public.

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The Hall of Famer noted that all this dirty laundry aired in public makes teams nervous about bringing that sort of trouble into their organizations.

“You’re always going to say, ‘Is the value of this player enough to offset the criticism that I get if I bring him on board?’” Dungy told Newsday

“Without that national anthem [protest], someone would have signed him by now,” Dungy added.

“If you’re seen as a distraction off the field, for whatever reason, you better have a lot of talent going for you,” Dungy said. “People will overlook it. They always sign talent if they think he’s going to upgrade your team.”

“Michael Vick went through a lot of that and had some teams say no [to signing him],” Dungy continued. “Andy Reid was the one coach who said, ‘Hey, we’ll do it. We think enough of him as a player, and we know we’re going to take some criticism.’ With Joe Mixon, you had the same thing. That’s what happens.”

Clearly Dungy thinks teams have decided that bringing Kaepernick’s sort of anti-Americanism into their teams just isn’t worth the risk.

There has been at least one report that someone may be interested in the former San Francisco 49ers second-string quarterback, though. Sports Illustrated’sMichael Silver reported that Seattle Seahawks GM John Schneider had reached out to Colin Kaepernick’s agent. So, perhaps Kaepernick might find a berth, anyway.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com